


Not a One

by allfireburns



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Angst, Gen, Loneliness, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-17
Updated: 2009-11-17
Packaged: 2017-10-03 04:10:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allfireburns/pseuds/allfireburns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The same answer means different things, depending on the circumstances.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not a One

Rose stepped out of the TARDIS first. The Doctor followed a half step behind, grinning at the awestruck look on her face as she took in the scene in front of them, delicate spires of stone rising out of the earth and toward the sky, dotted with window-like openings here and there, like a castle out of a fairy tale.

"Who lives here?" she breathed. "Who _built_ this?"

"Not a soul," he answered cheerfully. "It _grew_. This isn't a building, it's... well, a bit like coral. But it's all hollow inside. Fancy a look around?"

* * *

The Doctor could feel Martha's eyes on him as he bounced around the machine that took up the center of the lab, leaning in to examine readout screens, scan a button here and there... Martha, wisely, stayed out of the way, where she wasn't likely to hit any buttons, though he noticed her flinching every time _he_ came close to hitting any of them.

"Oh, this is good," he murmured to himself. "This is very, very... good. Brilliant, in fact." He looked up after a moment, and met Martha's eyes. She was still staring at him. "What?"

"Alright, it's brilliant. What does it _do_?"

"Not a clue. Shall we find out?" Martha yelped and covered her ears as the Doctor hit the nearest button, relatively assured nothing was going to explode.

* * *

"I'm going to kill you!"

The Doctor bounded around the room they were being kept in - well, the one he was being kept in, too nicely appointed to be a prison cell, though he couldn't very well _leave_ with guards watching. Donna had another room - a bigger room, a nicer room - but for some reason she felt the need to stalk in to his and start shouting at him. He couldn't imagine why that was, but he made sure to place at least one chair between the two of them for the time being. "I don't see what you're so upset about. All you have to do is marry the man, it's not as if-"

"_All_? Does this happen all the time with you?"

"Well... I wouldn't say _all_ the time, just... um... But the point is," he said, gesturing emphatically with one finger raised in hopes that would help to illustrate his point, "just as soon as you get married, they'll stop holding the TARDIS hostage, and then I'll come to your rescue and-"

"You're not even a _little_ worried about this, are you?"

He grinned. _Finally_ something was getting through. "Not a bit."

"That's because you're an idiot," Donna said, and the Doctor deflated a little. Alright, maybe not getting through as much as he'd hoped.

* * *

The Doctor frowned over the top of his glasses at the palm-sized transducer he'd been fiddling with for the past several minutes. "How long've we got, Professor?" he asked without looking up. "Ten minutes? Five?"

"Three," River answered. He didn't bother glancing over to see her expression, but he assumed it was something that translated to 'hurry up and finish that thing before we all die'.

"Three minutes isn't bad. I've saved the world in three minutes before. ...hand me that, um... fastener. Thing."

She sighed and picked up the required component, handing it over. He attached it to the device with his sonic screwdriver, glanced briefly at her, and looked away when he saw the look on her face. It didn't stop her from saying what she'd obviously been planning to. "You're alone this time. Just you."

"Three minutes until we die a horrible, fiery death and this is what you want to talk about?" he snapped, exasperated.

"Well, I'd suggest we shag, but that might distract you from your brilliant plans to save the day." He smirked vaguely to himself. He should have expected that response. The smirk faded as she went on, "Honestly, though, you haven't got anyone travelling with you? A friend, or...?"

The Doctor swallowed, fixing his attention on the transducer. Almost done with it anyway. "Not a one."


End file.
